


little talks

by yami (blind_man_sun)



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who: Eighth Doctor Adventures - Various Authors
Genre: Angst, Cloning Blues, Drinking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, just them being dumb drunk friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 09:36:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10659843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blind_man_sun/pseuds/yami
Summary: “Can I ask you a question?” She was lying on her stomach on his bed, halfway through a bottle of wine, periodically shoving Fitz’s feet away when they drifted too close to her face.“Fire away, Captain Kapoor.” He gave her a wobbly salute and Anji snorted.“Okay, first,” she raised one of the fingers wrapped around the bottle’s neck, “never call me that again.”“Buzzkill. What’s the question?”“Are you human?”





	little talks

“Hey, Fitz?”

“Yeah?” He slurred back. He was lying half off his bed, back on the floor, legs on the mattress. The TARDIS was stalled somewhere in space and Fitz, in a fit – haha, nice one, Kapoor- of boredom, had dragged half the ship’s liquor cabinet into his room and had proceeded to get tremendously smashed. Anji, after a moment of disapproval, had more or less gone ‘what the hell’ and decided to join him. It was better than hanging around in the console room listening to the Doctor sing the same opera verses over and over as they tried to fix whatever was wrong with the TARDIS this time, anyway.

“Can I ask you a question?” She was lying on her stomach on his bed, halfway through a bottle of wine, periodically shoving Fitz’s feet away when they drifted too close to her face.

“Fire away, Captain Kapoor.” He gave her a wobbly salute and Anji snorted.

“Okay, first,” she raised one of the fingers wrapped around the bottle’s neck, “never call me that again.”

“Buzzkill. What’s the question?”

“Are you human?”

Fitz half propped himself up on an elbow, brushing aside the messy dark hair that’d fallen in his eyes – God, he really needed a haircut, Anji thought- and stared at her, one eyebrow raised. “What kinda question is that?”

“Dunno, just came to me.” Anji shrugged nonchalantly, like the question hadn’t been burning in the back of her mind since she’d found out the Doctor was an alien. “I mean, you look like it, but so does the Doctor, and he’s not human at all, right?” She paused and took a thoughtful swig. “Then again, you do act like a perpetually horny fourteen-year-old.”

“Thanks.” He gave her a playful shove with his foot and Anji gave a mock shriek of disgust, batting it away. “I dunno,” he said, lying back down. “It’s complicated.”

“Oh my God, you are an alien!” Anji tried sitting up but decided the pounding in her head that occurred whenever she moved wasn’t worth it and flopped back down, spilling a bit of wine on Fitz’s blanket. Oops. Well, he probably wouldn’t mind, given how dirty his room always was. “What planet are you from?”

“’m from Earth,” Fitz said, offended. “Well. Technically.” 

“You’re contradicting yourself.”

“Okay.” Fitz sat up, propping his elbows on his knees. He was swaying slightly. “Right, you don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?”

“Y’know when we were on EarthWorld and you and the Doc found that android of me and it kept saying it wasn’t the real Fitz?” 

“Yeah, what’s that got to do with anything?” Anji put the now-empty bottle of wine down on the floor, confused.

“Well, it’s the same with me.” Fitz took a deep breath. “I’m not the real Fitz either.”

“What, are you saying you’re a robot too?” Anji reached out and gave him a gentle knock on the forehead. “Doesn’t sound like metal to me. Just a thick-skulled idiot.” 

“Haha, real funny.” Fitz frowned at her. “No, I mean I’m a clone.” 

That got Anji’s attention. She wanted to make another joke, but the look on Fitz’s face made her hold her tongue. There was a real pain in his eyes, despite how drunk he was. “What happened?” She asked softly. 

“Long story.” Fitz grabbed another beer from the small pile sitting on the floor next to him and popped the tab. “Basically the rundown is I got kidnapped by an evil cult – the original me, I mean – and they made me think the Doctor abandoned me and that really hurt ‘cuz I was…” He trailed off, took a swig. “I was half in love with them, even then.”

That hadn’t really been what Anji had been expecting. Well, the part about Fitz being in love with the Doctor she knew, that much was obvious. But the rest?

“Anyway,” Fitz continued, “original me joined up with them, became evil, swore revenge on the Doctor, yadda, yadda.” He made a talking motion with his hand as he spoke.

“Where’s the cloning part come in?” Anji interrupted, feeling guilty immediately.

“’m getting to that, gimme a sec.” Fitz finished off the rest of his can and reached for another. Anji gave him her best stern, motherly look and he slowly withdrew his hand. She didn’t need her best friend – and Anji had to wonder how and when he’d earned that title in her mind – dying of alcohol poisoning. “Okay, well, the Faction – that’s the cult I mentioned – also had this little planet, right? Called Anathema. The people who lived there were called the Remote, ‘cuz they were basically like big antennas.” He pointed a thumb at his chest. “I’m Remote. So, technically, no, I’m not human.” There was a darkness to his tone, a kind of bitterness and self-loathing that made Anji’s heart drop.

“Anyway,” he kept going, words coming faster now. Like he’d been waiting a long time to share this. “When one of the Remote dies they stick a big lump of biomatter in a box and basically remember them back into existence. ‘Course, the problem is, people don’t always remember things right, y’know? And then two hundred years later I’m not even me anymore, I’m some kid called Kode.”

He flopped back on the ground with a long sigh. Anji eyed him dolefully, her drunken brain not quite processing all this. “You don’t have to keep going if you don’t want to, you know,” she said, a little concerned that Fitz was going to start crying any minute now.  
“Nah. It’s fine.” Fitz replied glumly. “’S not like I have anyone else to talk to anyway, since Sam and Compassion left. Christ, you would’ve hated Compassion, Anj.” He threw an arm over his face. “And of course the Doctor went and forgot all about it, so I can’t even talk to them. They’re the one who got me into this whole mess and they don’t even have the decency to remember!” Fitz gave a bitter laugh that trailed off into something that sounded like a choked sob. “Sorry.” He took a deep breath. “Original me dies, the Doctor and the TARDIS re-re-remember me back into Fitz, ‘cept I’m not really the real one. End of story.” 

“Well, that’s a load of rubbish.” Anji propped her cheek up on one hand and put the other on Fitz’s knee, forcing herself to be gentle. “You’re the most real person I’ve ever met.”

“Anji, you don’t understand.” Fitz looked at her, and she could see tears in his big grey eyes. “I’ve got memories of a life I’ve never lived, okay? I can…” He paused, searching for an example. “I can remembered hugging my mum, before she died, and my dad, before he died, but I didn’t really. Not with this body. They’re just,” Fitz threw up a hand in frustration, “fake memories. Everything about me’s fake.”

“Oh, for-“ Anji rolled her eyes. “C’mere, you big idiot.” She patted the bed beside her and stared at Fitz until he got off the floor. “Sit.” He sat, looking for all the world like a dejected pipecleaner. “Fitz,” Anji said very seriously, actually sitting up. “You’re an amazing person, okay? Even if I can’t stand you half the time.”

“Thanks,” Fitz said dryly.

“Shut up. I mean it. You’re probably my best friend, you know that?” She took one of his big, awkward hands, more than twice the sizes of hers. “I don’t want you beating yourself up about this, okay? What happened to you wasn’t your fault. And quit all this nonsense about being fake.” She held up a finger, cutting off Fitz’s interruption. “I’m serious. It’s bullshit, that’s what it is. You’re a clone, so what? You’re still one of the most amazingly human guys I’ve ever met.” 

Fitz was silent for a long moment. Anji saw him trying to discretely wipe his eyes and pretended she hadn’t noticed. “Thanks, Anj,” he said eventually, giving her one of those crooked smiles that she hated to admit were charming. “You’re a good friend.”

“Ah, don’t mention it.” She patted his hand and on impulse leaned up to give him a peck on the cheek. “Ugh, you need a shave.” She wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out. 

“Me, shave?” Fitz shot her a mock-offended look, holding a hand over his heart. “I’ve got a look to maintain, you know. It’s part of that Kreiner charm.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Anji hauled herself off Fitz’s bed with a groan. “I’m gonna…gonna go take a shower and sleep off this monster hangover that’s coming on.”

“Want some company?” Fitz asked cheekily and Anji shoved his shoulder with a snort. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Hey,” he said when she was standing in his doorway. “Thanks again. For listening to me.”

“Yeah.” Anji gave him a fond look. “I’m always there for you if you need me, Fitz. Wake me up when the Doctor lands the TARDIS, will you?”

“Aye, aye, Captain Kapoor.” Fitz gave her an even more drunken salute than his last one and she stuck her tongue out at him again, laughing as she closed his door.


End file.
